


The Girl in The Spire

by Depressed_Ferret



Series: She-Ra 40,000 [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Foreshadowing, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27449230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Depressed_Ferret/pseuds/Depressed_Ferret
Summary: The average day for a young Adora living in the Spire.
Series: She-Ra 40,000 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994575
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	The Girl in The Spire

**Author's Note:**

> FUCK this took some time to write, work is just kickin my ass. Also I wasn't really sure how to set up Adora's introduction, but I'm hoping I did some good in both setting up her character, and laying down some foreshadowing.

_ “Wrong!” _ a voice clanged, metallic and static before a sharp  _ slap _ filled the room. Adora pulled back her hands, tiny fingers clutching the growing bruise on the back of her right hand. Steely blue eyes stung as the beginning of tears welled behind her lashes.

_ “Again!” _ her instructor commanded. She was a tall, stocky woman with spindly augmetic limbs ending in thin, spider-like digits. Her flesh, what little she has left, is a sickly grey. A  _ Voidborn, _ someone birthed in the vacuum of the void from an artificial womb.

_ “Now,” _ she spoke, her metallic voice calm as she spoke through her augmetic mouth, which was more of a respirator fitted with a vox-caster,  _ “What is the name of our glorious home?”  _ she asked, brow cocked with eyes black as night.

Adora paused to place her bruised hands back on the table, palms down, and answered “Planet Urthan, Miss Tolvasta.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. Adora never liked tests, she always blurted out answers without thinking, due to her anxiety.

_ “Good,” _ Tolvasta praised, vox-filtered voice raised a few decibels,  _ “The name of the Hive?” _

“We are in Hive Nirah.”

A nod,  _ “The others?” _

“Sulid, Vaasti, Koris, Pars-”

She didn’t have time to correct her mistake before the riding crop flashed, slamming against her tiny hand and nearly making the young girl scream in pain.

_ That would only earn her another. _

_ “Wrong!” _ Tolvasta admonished,  _ “Hive Parsentii fell three cycles ago,” _ the Voidborn leveled the crop at Adora’s eyes,  _ “Why.” _

Adora’s mind raced, desperate to avoid another lashing. Grey-blue eyes scanned the room in panic, searching for anything to calm her nerves. The pristine white floors, the grey, durasteel walls with golden ornamentation, the large holo-screen at the front of the room; none of it helped.

_ “Well?” _ Tolvasta asked, tone low and crackling as her pitch-black eyes began to narrow ominously. She wasn’t a patient woman, Adora knew this, so she decided to take a shot in the dark, praying to the Emperor she hadn’t forgotten.

_ “Hi-” _ she cleared her throat, “Hive Parsentii fell due to internal-”  _ what was that word?  _ “-conflict-”  _ god enough  _ “-caused by gross mistreatment of the lower classes.”

Thank the Emperor she remembered her big words…

Tolvasta seemed pleased by her answer,  _ “What else?” _

“Uh-” she paused, “The Nobility refused to give workers the materials necessary to maintain their power plants, so they exploded.”

Again the tutor nodded, turning away to pace around the room,  _ “Very good, despite your rather  _ lacking _ recollection of our lessons.” _

Adora slumped in her plush chair. She had tried really hard,  _ studied _ hard. Something about tests just filed her with so much anxiety she forgot to think.

Maybe she really  _ is _ a failure?

_ “Now,” _ Tolvasta began,  _ “Let us continue the lesson, Lady Alethros.” _

  
  


…………………..

  
  


By the end of the lesson, Adora’s hands felt as though they would shatter at the lightest of touches. She had missed several other questions later that lesson, and her hands paid the price for her ignorance.

_ “Run along, child.”  _ Tolvasta instructed,  _ “I must ready your next lessons.”  _ Before she could turn back into the room, Adora asked “Can-” She paused when Tolvasta turned to her, white hair swishing behind her like albino tendrils, “C-Can we learn about wildlife next, Miss Tolvasta?”

Adora’s voice was meek and timid, she never really liked requesting things. She mostly preferred to stay quiet and nod when around older people; but she had really been wanting to learn about the animals of the planet, and they hadn’t yet gotten to that.

Tolvasta pondered for a moment, before a sharp, spindly hand reached out and gently pat Adora on her head,  _ “If you be a good girl until then, and study well,” _ she began, voice tinted with a hint of gentleness,  _ “Then I may set up a lesson about the diversity of flora and fauna scattered around the planet.” _

Adora beamed when her tutor pulled her hand away, “Thank you, Miss Tolvasta!” she squealed with joy, pulling at the sides of her frilly dress in a quick curtsy before dashing down the vast halls.

“Yes!” Adora cheered, “I’m so excited!”

She could hardly contain herself. Adora has held a fascination with animals that bordered on  _ obsession _ ever since she was a toddler. Especially fluffy ones. Fluffy was always pretty.

As she passed by a window, Adora paused to look outside, into the vastness of her family’s villa in the Lower Spire. The lush, emerald green of the artificial grass; and the beautiful colors of the  _ Lumen Trees, _ metal constructs designed after the ancient trees of Urthan, fitted with small, bright lumen lights to act as leaves. Marble and gold plated statues of Saints lined the pathways, while animal statues would mark branches in the path.

It was all very pretty, to the young blonde. House Alethros wasn’t the most wealthy, only being a few levels above  _ The Wall, _ but they were still strong.

They had to be. If they weren’t-

“Adora,” a deep masculine voice spoke, pulling Adora from her thoughts.

Startled, Adora turned, looking up. He was tall, with light brown hair, grey eyes and a well trimmed beard. Clothes of the finest silks, lined with velvet and embroidered in bronze. A ceramite cuirass adorned his mighty frame, durasteel pauldrons making his silhouette even broader, and a golden Aquilla proudly on display in the center of his chest.

Adora smiled, “Hello, Lord Father.” she gave a small curtsy.

Lord Randor Alterhos smiled at his daughter, reaching down and gently ruffling her golden locks. “Hello, Little Star,” he chuckled, “How was your lesson?”

Adora frowned, “I answered a lot of questions wrong,” she admits, showing the back of her hands, “I got lashed a lot.”

Lord Randor frowns, “Have you not been studying?”

Adora shook her head, “I get nervous during tests,” she says “I say things without thinking.”

Lord Randor nods, slowly walking down the hall, Adora close behind, “That would explain it. Get something wrong, you get lashed.” he then chuckles, “My father actually had me shocked back then.”

Adora gasped in horror, “Grandpa RoRo!?”

Randor laughs at his daughter’s nickname for his father, “Yes, Grandpa RoRo had my tutor shock me whenever I got something wrong. Of course,” he shrugs “He stopped once he saw I started twitching. Then I got lashed with a whip.”

Adora clings to her father’s leg,  _ “‘M sorry…” _ she mumbles.

Randor just pats her head, “Nothing you could’ve done, honey. This was over a century ago.”

Adora nodded. She kept forgetting how old her father was.

“Learn anything interesting?”

Adora nods, “I learned all the names of the planets in the system.”

“Really?” Randor smiles.

“Yep!” She nods, “Urthan, Etheran, Morthai, Kalhet, Erass, Khori, and Mahar!”

“Never liked Mahar,” Randor shudders, “Those people are creepy.”

“Why?”

Randor leans down to whisper,  _ “They’re spider people.” _

Adora gasps in horror, “S-Spiders!?”

Randor nods, “They graft metal arachnid limbs onto themselves to better move around their environment. Terrifying as  _ sin!” _ He chuckled at his daughter’s expression.

“Adora?” Randor began, voice suddenly more serious. This made Adora pause, letting go of his leg and looking up, “Yes?” she asked.

“How would you like to visit another Hive?”

Adora was… Confused.  _ “Visit another Hive?” _ Why would her father suddenly ask that? Was something happening?

“For what reason?” she asked, etiquette lessons kicking in.

“To visit some old friends of the family,” He answered, “To make better connections with our allies.”

Something was wrong. Adora didn’t know what, but she  _ knew _ something wasn’t right, yet…

She nodded, “Of course, Lord Father. I would be honored.”

Lord Randor nodded, his smile returning, yet Adora could still see it wasn’t as honest as before.

Something was wrong…..


End file.
